Sonnet XLIV
If the dull substance of my flesh were thought,Injurious distance should not stop my way;For then despite of space I would be brought,From limits far remote, where thou dost stay.No matter then although my foot did standUpon the farthest earth remov’d from thee;For nimble thought can jump both sea and land,As soon as think the place where he would be.But, ah! thought kills me that I am not thought,To leap large lengths of miles when thou art gone,But that so much of earth and water wrought,I must attend time’s leisure with my moan;Receiving nought by elements so slowBut heavy tears, badges of either’s woe.
About this text
Sonnet XLIV is in the public domain. This text is taken from Shakespeare's Sonnets, Project Gutenberg ebook #1041; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: William Shakespeare, Sonnet XLIV, in The Sonnets (1609), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1041, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/shakespeare-sonnets/sonnet-44.html, id L00062.
Form and metre
Sonnet XLIV is 14 lines in a single stanza. It rhymes ABABCDCDEFEFGG, the pattern of the English sonnet. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 89%). 96% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.0 syllables. 14% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other English sonnets, other poems in iambic pentameter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 ABABCDCDEFEFGG thoughtA · wayB · broughtA · stayB · standC · theeD · landC · beD · thoughtE · goneF · wroughtE · moanF · slowG · woeG
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against iambic pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| If the dull substance of my flesh were thought, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Injurious distance should not stop my way; | 10 | ˘/˘/˘····· |
| For then despite of space I would be brought, | 10 | ··˘/······ |
| From limits far remote, where thou dost stay. | 10 | ·/˘·˘/···· |
| No matter then although my foot did stand | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Upon the farthest earth remov’d from thee; | 10 | ···/˘·˘/·· |
| For nimble thought can jump both sea and land, | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| As soon as think the place where he would be. | 10 | ·········· |
| But, ah! thought kills me that I am not thought, | 10 | ·········· |
| To leap large lengths of miles when thou art gone, | 10 | ·········· |
| But that so much of earth and water wrought, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| I must attend time’s leisure with my moan; | 10 | ··˘/·/˘··· |
| Receiving nought by elements so slow | 10 | ˘/˘··/˘˘·· |
| But heavy tears, badges of either’s woe. | 10 | ·/˘·/˘·/˘· |
On this poem
Notes from the edition 5
Notes by William J. Rolfe, Shakespeare's Sonnets (New York, 1905), Internet Archive scan
- Line 1 Thought. Which can fly whither it will.
- Line 4 From. Gildon has "To." Where — to where.
- Line 6 Farthest earth remoi'd. That is, earth farthest removed. For the transposition, cf. 1 1 1. 2 below.
- Line 9 Thought kills me. Here thought probably = " melancholy contemplation." ('{. A. and C. iv. 6. 35, etc.
- Line 11 So much of earth and water wrought. That is, so much of these baser elements being wrought into my nature. The allusion is to the obi idea of the four elements entering into the composition of man. Cf. T. X. ii. 3. 10: " Does not our life consist of the four elements?" and Hen. V. iii. 7. 22 : "He is pure air and fire, and the dull elements of earth and water never appear in him," etc. See also A. and C. v. 2. 292. Walker quotes Chapman, Iliad, vii. : — " But ye are earth and water all, which — symboliz'd [that is, collected] in one — Have fram'd your faint unfiery spirits." 12. Attend time's leisure. Await the lapse of time. 14. Heavy tears. Heavy because due to these elements of earth and water.
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